This is a discussion on Ford's "Driving Skills for Life" for Bangalore BHPians. EDIT : Report Pg. 10 onward within The Indian Car Scene, part of the BHP India category; Originally Posted by rangakishen
I'm pretty sure of this. The Chevy Cruze putters along at around 50-55 in 5th (topgear) ...

I'm pretty sure of this. The Chevy Cruze putters along at around 50-55 in 5th (topgear) without any problems. You can keep on going!!

Discovered this after close to 2L kms in the Zen !!

The car doesnt do 50-60 ,but yesterday i saw that i was doing 20-30kph easily in 4th gear ..but i doubt if this will be helpful in daily driving within the city .I was trying this yesterday on my way back from work and I had a couple of angry drivers waiting to punch me :P

The car doesnt do 50-60 ,but yesterday i saw that i was doing 20-30kph easily in 4th gear ..but i doubt if this will be helpful in daily driving within the city .I was trying this yesterday on my way back from work and I had a couple of angry drivers waiting to punch me :P

Even I feel that it wont do 50-60 but will comfortably do 30. Even during the exercise, Kaushik asked them to get to 50 and leave off the ABC pedals, the speed reduced considerably, but didnt stall, I think then too it settled down to around 20-30 for cruising along.

Quote:

Originally Posted by figo_united

Just got a call from metro ford asking for my address. She said they'll courier the certificate.

The car doesnt do 50-60 ,but yesterday i saw that i was doing 20-30kph easily in 4th gear ..but i doubt if this will be helpful in daily driving within the city .I was trying this yesterday on my way back from work and I had a couple of angry drivers waiting to punch me :P

Even I tried doing this 20-25 in the 3rd gear but felt that I was kind of blocking the traffic. Also, as mentioned by you I think this will never help us because in city roads we will be either in bumper to bumper traffic or around 30 with frequent braking. In highway no one is going to drive this way except while approaching toll both. Only take away from this test is avoid unnecessary acceleration.

Even I tried doing this 20-25 in the 3rd gear but felt that I was kind of blocking the traffic. Also, as mentioned by you I think this will never help us because in city roads we will be either in bumper to bumper traffic or around 30 with frequent braking. In highway no one is going to drive this way except while approaching toll both. Only take away from this test is avoid unnecessary acceleration.

This tactic can be implemented when you're approaching a red light at a traffic signal. Stay in the highest gear, don't accelerate and let the revs fall to the minimum. You will not only save fuel, it will ensure engine longevity and you will be in control of your car since it is in gear!

I come across such instances every day. And I've learnt to implement it!

Sorry to spoil the party guys, but the only things which I could gather from reading the last 5 pages are:
- Wear seat belts
- Check RVMs
- No tailgating
- Defensive and relaxed driving
- Turn off ignition if waiting for more than 60 seconds

Don't we all know this already ? I fail to understand what is the rocket science here ?

Purely from the point of view of learning driving skills for life, was it really worth wasting half a day on attending this event (not counting the opportunity to meet fellow BHPians and the lunch/high tea) ?

Don't we all know this already ? I fail to understand what is the rocket science here ?

Purely from the point of view of learning driving skills for life, was it really worth wasting half a day on attending this event (not counting the opportunity to meet fellow BHPians and the lunch/high tea) ?

Rohan

+1. The course was not modified for the given audience. The content would have been right if the audience was cab drivers or auto drivers.

This tactic can be implemented when you're approaching a red light at a traffic signal. Stay in the highest gear, don't accelerate and let the revs fall to the minimum. You will not only save fuel, it will ensure engine longevity and you will be in control of your car since it is in gear!

I come across such instances every day. And I've learnt to implement it!

If you check your mileage regularly, do let us know how much of an improvement do you have.

Since the event, my driving style is changed keeping the guidelines from the event in mind. Will check FE and post it here.

Don't we all know this already ? I fail to understand what is the rocket science here ?

Even though individually we may know several things, we may not necessarily practise them in real life. However when we address these things as a group, the whole group might start practising them together and that will bring about a change.

You can see there are a few members who have decided to apply some of the learnings in their day to day driving to see how much of a change it brings about. It shows that: some of them were unaware of some of the points (such as the fear the car would stall if the accelerator, brake and clutch were left untouched while in gear), or that coasting in gear without the use of the accelerator pedal would bring about some FE gains, and secondly when as a group they decide to apply these measures to their daily driving it will go a long way towards establishing better driving standards, than if they were to do it as an individual.

A group activity has a longer lasting effect than a personal endeavour.

Dunno if this has been mentioned earlier in this thread ,one very important topic was on ensuring that there isnt anything under the driver seat .

This is dangerous as these can roll under the brake pedal on hard braking and lead to scary situations

I had the habit of driving barefoot (even now if I am wearing chappals, I drive barefoot). The footwear would reside near the driver's seat, in the footwell. On hard braking or hard cornering, the footwear often slid forward, and then started disturbing my foot geometry with the pedals. I had to constantly keep an eye (figuratively) on it to make sure my feet were free to operate the pedals.

I had the habit of driving barefoot (even now if I am wearing chappals, I drive barefoot). The footwear would reside near the driver's seat, in the footwell. On hard braking or hard cornering, the footwear often slid forward, and then started disturbing my foot geometry with the pedals. I had to constantly keep an eye (figuratively) on it to make sure my feet were free to operate the pedals.

The example that was quoted was that someone he knew was driving with some empty coke cans at the rear seat. One of them fell down, and rolled into the front and had got stuck under the brake pedal!

I had the habit of driving barefoot (even now if I am wearing chappals, I drive barefoot). The footwear would reside near the driver's seat, in the footwell. On hard braking or hard cornering, the footwear often slid forward, and then started disturbing my foot geometry with the pedals. I had to constantly keep an eye (figuratively) on it to make sure my feet were free to operate the pedals.

Quote:

Originally Posted by figo_united

The example that was quoted was that someone he knew was driving with some empty coke cans at the rear seat. One of them fell down, and rolled into the front and had got stuck under the brake pedal!

true story

June 2009 we were travelling to Pondicherry in our car; i was driving. couple of days back i was involved in a bike accident and had my left knee peeled and had injuries on the left foot. i didn't want to cancel the trip as we had been planning it for quite some time. so i get myself the slip on sandals and wear shorts (so that the knee area is free).

while driving i used to remove the sandals and drive barefoot (keeping the sandals under my foot. once it happened that i had to brake hard and the sandals slipped under the clutch and i could not depress it. result - the car stalled and came to a stop.